Hill's Recovery Conspiracy Or Conservative?

August 23, 2001|By George Diaz, Sentinel Columnist

You wonder.

All you want is a peek behind the curtain, a close encounter that isn't shrouded in mystery.

We've waited patiently for eight months for Grant Hill to mend, following his progress with the anticipation of a 3-year-old who can't stand to be teased any longer by the oversized package underneath the Christmas tree.

This one stands 6 feet, 8 inches, and when all the parts are assembled correctly, he is one of the most marvelous basketball players on the planet.

Or so we hear.

Orlando will have to wait a while longer to see Hill, who has turned into a fragile Bubble Boy for a Magic organization that doesn't want any preseason dings or scratches on its $92.88 million man.

Magic General Manager John Gabriel is refusing to let Hill play in one of those innocuous charity basketball games, usually nothing more than glorified dunk and layup drills where the most taxing defensive maneuver is a wave of the hand.

Still, Gabriel remains adamant about a tough-love approach to Hill's rehab, also warning Hill to look both ways before crossing the street and insisting that Hill wear a HANS device when he drives to Publix.

Can you blame Gabe?

Hill bears the weight of Orlando's future on a left ankle stitched together by three tiny screws. Yet there is reason to cast skeptical Oliver Stone eyes at Gabriel's decision to yank Hill from his own charity basketball game at Duke this week. Is Hill's ankle not healing as anticipated? Does Hill remain damaged goods? Are the Magic trying to cover their tracks and stall before admitting, "Hey, our bad, but we think we made a mistake."

We don't think so . . .

But the answers won't come until late September or early October when the Magic pull the plug on the Bubble Boy and let him fend for himself during training camp.

"That's fine," Hill said Wednesday regarding the speculation. "People are going to doubt things until they see me do it in an actual game with a Magic uniform on. In due time we all will see and put this behind us."

Despite knowing he was going to "take a hit" over this, Gabriel made the most prudent choice by putting the kibosh on Hill's charitable endeavor.

Imagine Hill twisting an ankle. Or something worse. Stuff happens, even in harmless no-brainer events. Running back Robert Edwards of the New England Patriots has not played since Feb. 5, 1999, after blowing out his left leg in a beach football game in Hawaii.

Given the options, I prefer wait-and-see rather than see Hill carted off on a stretcher this weekend.

We have yet to see Hill at his game-day best. He visited Orlando with cast and crutches to hear the Magic's recruiting pitch. He played in four games, making his final appearance Dec. 12 before disappearing into the painful world of rehab.

Most recently, we saw Hill wearing a Hawaiian shirt to help pitch Florida's regional effort for the 2012 Summer Games and then switch to a cool black jersey to participate in teammate Tracy McGrady's charity bowling event.

It would be nice to see him wearing the clothes of a professional basketball player.